Modern Warfare 2 map pack: $15, Xbox 360 exclusive launch

The first map pack for Modern Warfare 2 is a timed exclusive for the Xbox 360 …

On March 30 the Xbox 360 will be receiving the first map pack for Modern Warfare 2 as a timed exclusive. Gamers will receive three new maps, as well as two reworked maps from Call of Duty 4. The price for all this gaming? 1,200 Microsoft points, or $15.

The Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Variety Map Pack came in at $10, and featured four new maps. Ah, the good old days. Activision is betting that you'll buy the map pack even if you complain about the pricing. Meanwhile, the creative talent behind the maps are hoping you don't buy $1 billion worth, because then they'll be fired.

It's a simple gamble. If no one buys the maps, which is doubtful, the price can be lowered. If people do buy the maps, Activision profits mightily. If you're a regular online player who gets hours of enjoyment out of the maps, you could even argue that the price remains a good deal. If nothing else, other publishers will be watching the sales numbers and weighing the pros and cons of such aggressive pricing for their own content.

Go to heck IW. The good old days weren't when we could pay $10 for 4 maps, but when we could create 100 of our own maps and download them for free for use on a custom server of our choice. Most of the maps in MW2 are pretty bad to begin with, or they are remakes of older maps or they just never pop up much in rotation. I think I have played Rust maybe 5-6 times since November? WTF???? And 3 new maps? That is so pathetic. I wouldn't pay $5 much less $15. How about 20 maps for $5 - that I would consider paying.

I'll stick with my free DLC for TF2 and BC2. Thanks, but no thanks IW.

Damn straight. BC2 is a fantastic game and I hope the sting of being suckered in to MW2 for PC wears off soon. Maybe some more BC2 will help.

It's amazing though how Activision is milking this franchise to death right now. Did they know this was the beginning of the end and raise prices on the retail game and DLC to get their last big squeeze?

$15?! Ummm, yeah...I put MW2 on the shelf when BC2 came out...looks like that's where it's gonna stay. Not that it really would have mattered...even if they were free, I would download them, play them once or twice and probably go back to BC2, but 1/4 the price of the game for 3 new maps...crazy.

A little OT, but from what I've read MS considers these "time-exclusives" to be a big 'value ad' for XBL Gold Subscribers. I've got to say plain-faced, I would much rather MS add actual content rather than try to buy stuff into exclusivity with my money. For instance, rather than pay Activision $1M to delay releasing the map pack to PS3 - maybe pay Activision $1M to develop a map exclusively for XBL; or pay $1M to popcap to develop a 'light' flash game. (Well, no, strike the exclusive map - I don't care for platform-exclusive add-ons. Do the whole game or nothing at all).

They've made a lot of effort, I don't deny that (1v100, Netflix, Twitter/FB (though I think that's massively overrated as a feature)). But I feel like the XBL experience is really stagnating. For $50 (and with all the free content that's thrown around on the web) they could really create a great STB-entertainment device. Instead they're charging you $50 to use voice chat in game (most of the actual game servers are paid for by developers & pubs, I'm guessing).

It just seems like the infrastructure is all there (moderately fast (6Mbps+) broadband, powerful compute device (as opposed to dumb-ish STB), high-quality UI) for something a lot better than what they're offering now. I am seeing something like a Hulu partnership (maybe they pay them $2-5 per subscriber, and get access to ad-supported content with a buy-in option for ad free) and a new entertainment API that allows independent content to reach out to the XBL community.

so they make a billion and this is the thanks we get? they have not done anything about thier horrible servers, every other or every third game is crap becuase of host migration or server problems... and apparently they don't know that people may want to play online on the same console and have yet to make this happen... what the hell are they thinking. i've bought all the cod since 2 but this will be the last title i buy. i'd rather not play than put up with thier stupid shit...... for instance, some friends got together this weekend and couldn't play cod mw2 online so we put in halo and we played..... i really hope activision falls flat on their ass some day.

$15?! Ummm, yeah...I put MW2 on the shelf when BC2 came out...looks like that's where it's gonna stay. Not that it really would have mattered...even if they were free, I would download them, play them once or twice and probably go back to BC2, but 1/4 the price of the game for 3 new maps...crazy.

10 bucks, maybe. The sad thing is that they will probably reach a record number of downloads for this map pack. Hopefully this wont be a sign to devs and publishers that they can pump out a few new maps and some re-hashed work for a higher price tag... hopefully. Anyways, im gonna go back to flying my apache in BC2 :P

I remeber the COD WAW maps were only 800 points when they came out and plus you got a bonus zombie mode. But 15 bucks for three maps? C'mon. That's a jip. I'll be sure to be spending that money on bad company 2 updates.

U guys are really complaining about 15 bucks? haha. You know how many hrs of entertainment that is? 15 dollars is good for AT LEAST one month of entertainment. You go to the strip club for 'entertainment' and leave there broke.

I remeber the COD WAW maps were only 800 points when they came out and plus you got a bonus zombie mode. But 15 bucks for three maps? C'mon. That's a jip. I'll be sure to be spending that money on bad company 2 updates.

Actually, save that $15 for a beer. The first round of DLC for BC2 is free!

Take note DICE, should you reach the top of the mountain do not let arrogance cloud your decisions or your publisher make changes that drive the title in to the toilet. CoD is just garbage now and that's all that will come from it moving forward.

I'm getting really close to being done with DLC except from Valve. I agree with most of the people here, 15 dollars for 3 maps is crap. And after reading the comments it seems like I need to check out BC2.

U guys are really complaining about 15 bucks? haha. You know how many hrs of entertainment that is? 15 dollars is good for AT LEAST one month of entertainment. You go to the strip club for 'entertainment' and leave there broke.

It's a ripoff plain and simple, if Activision is rolling in money from $60 game price point, how does 3 maps have the 1/4 the value of a full game?

It's not like BC2 is some great monument of a game done right it has it's problems and it has a rather high price for renting servers compared to other games. Both of these companies seem to have taken steps backwards it is just that BC2 was a small step backwards whereas MW2 was a large step backwards. Is the price high for this content? Yes, of course it is, but people will pay because there is a large audience that enjoys the multiplayer aspect of the game which is fun. For $15 I wish they did include another spec ops mission or a few more maps because you can buy a top rated arcade game for that price.

I think Valve is the only company that seems to understand how to make DLC and to build a loyal fanbase.

$15?! Ummm, yeah...I put MW2 on the shelf when BC2 came out...looks like that's where it's gonna stay. Not that it really would have mattered...even if they were free, I would download them, play them once or twice and probably go back to BC2, but 1/4 the price of the game for 3 new maps...crazy.

10 bucks, maybe. The sad thing is that they will probably reach a record number of downloads for this map pack. Hopefully this wont be a sign to devs and publishers that they can pump out a few new maps and some re-hashed work for a higher price tag... hopefully. Anyways, im gonna go back to flying my apache in BC2 :P

That was you in the Apache?!? I so owe you a rocket barrage to the head!! ...

I guess there aren't too many comments because most people have Bobby Kotick's meat pole jammed down their throats.

MW2 is $60 well saved, well $75 now.

QFT.

But, like Ben says, they can afford to release at this price point to see if people do, in fact, bend over. I'm betting the answer is yes. If so, no matter how loudly we howl in outrage, their strategy will be a success and we'll see more crappy DLC at this price point.

I couldn't really get into MW2. I ended up buying BFBC2 and having a great time. 15 bux for the 3 new + 2 old maps seem like total rip off, but I guess it's all really in the eyes of consumer who think its fair or not. I won't be buying one. Anyone has any thought on what EA has been doing with ME2 and BFBC2? EA seems to get smart and force me to buy new games b/c I really want so called "free" DLCs for the new game buyer. I think it's a brilliant as long as EA keeps the right balance (i.e. ME 2 has been working well for me. BFBC2's free map DLC feels a bit like a dick move by EA to limit the rental players.) I just have a mixed feeling about BFBC2 just because it feels kinda icky that you get something just b/c you bought the new game and the stuff I got most likely need to be in the full game in the first place.

I guess there aren't too many comments because most people have Bobby Kotick's meat pole jammed down their throats.

MW2 is $60 well saved, well $75 now.

QFT.

But, like Ben says, they can afford to release at this price point to see if people do, in fact, bend over. I'm betting the answer is yes. If so, no matter how loudly we howl in outrage, their strategy will be a success and we'll see more crappy DLC at this price point.

no no no, you'll see even crappier DLC for a higher price point. Activision is clearly trying to see how stupid/gullible gamers are, and how much money they can extract from them.

BiggC wrote:

An example of "The Good Old Days" would be UT2004's Editor's Choice Edition, which was free and IIRC had 10 new maps and 3 new vehicles.

Well yeah. Ben was being sarcastic when he said the MW1 map pack was the good old days.

I was going to pick MW2 up over the weekend, but the box smelt faintly of Astroglide, so I put it back. Now I know the box was pre-lubed cuz of all the still unfixed glitches and overpriced shitty DLC.

Yeah, the lack of PS3 availability, inflated price and game issues that have grown intolerable makes this a no sale for me. In fact, I'm not sure I'll be buying another game with "Call of Duty" or "Modern Warfare" in the title for a while. It's getting a little tired. A release every year is too much.

When a game like Call of Duty 6 (that's Modern Warfare 2) earns a cool $1,000,000,000 and then they charge $15 for a feeble map pack, they don't give a shit about the bona fide gamer. It's all about milking thirteen-year-old boys who don't know any better.

U guys are really complaining about 15 bucks? haha. You know how many hrs of entertainment that is? 15 dollars is good for AT LEAST one month of entertainment. You go to the strip club for 'entertainment' and leave there broke.

See my post above. You're a fucking tool. You're the kind of moron who always finds a way to justify higher taxes, too, aren't you?

Never bought the game and I definitely wouldn't shell out $15 even if I had. Bad Company 2 on the other hand well, Sounds like I'll be spending time with all these other folks who are unhappy with you Activision. Played multi for the first time yesterday and had a blast, even though I did get in a chopper, fly backwords and crash into the ocean(If you were that passenger on the minigun, I'm sorry!), they should cover that in single player for the new guys.